you've got all these holidays, emily dickinson, the nuts are getting brown, the berry's cheek is plumper, the rose is out of town. it's wonderful to introduce that. >> and we want children to love reading and poems is a marvelous introduction to that. they're short, musical in a way. >> you found poems for arbor day even. >> kwanzaa, we've tried to be diverse and broad. >> that's the next book. >> you wrote original poems about valentine's day, julie you write a heart seems far too small a thing to carry, all the love i bring to you. what about valentine's day made you want to write something original? >> well, my spouse, my lovely blake. and in the family, we always write special occasion poems. we have done for as long as i can remember. we've got quite a pile of them and i chose one day to do a valentine's for blake. >> what's special for you in the book that stands out? >> you know, one of the great thrills is the beautiful painting. >> it just makes the book. >> they do. we hope, of course, that the poem will stand on their own and be these wonderful rich linguistic musical gifts, b